By Staff
EAST LANSING – This year's Michigan Organic Conference features a special food-related film festival along with more than 20 educational sessions for organic consumers, gardeners and farmers, according to former Dowagiac resident Kurt Cobb.
The conference will take place at the Kellogg Center on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.
It begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, with the film festival and continues from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, with educational sessions, exhibits, a gourmet organic luncheon and more films.
A local foods reception follows the conference sessions.
The conference offers a unique venue for consumers to connect with the people who grow, process and sell organic food in Michigan.
Consumers will find more sessions than ever to attend, including ones on cooking with local, organic ingredients; fresh milk and cow shares; organic food and human health; forming an organic buying group; and how to be an organic activist.
Gardeners and farmers will find sessions on organic soil, organic pest management, organic livestock, extending the growing season and many other topics.
In addition to the educational sessions, the conference will include five food-related films hosted by documentary filmmaker Chris Bedford.
Bedford will conduct a discussion following the Friday night presentation of his film, "The Organic Opportunity," which shows how one county in Iowa made local organic food a key element in its economic development strategy. This showing is open to the public.
On Saturday morning, keynote speaker Tim LaSalle, chief executive officer of The Rodale Institute, will give a talk entitled, "Organic Agriculture: The Secret Weapon to Fight Global Warming."
Also expected to appear at the conference is MacArthur Foundation genius grant recipient Cheryl Rogowski, a New York organic farmer and activist.
The conference fee is $70 for early registration by Feb. 25 and $80 at the door. Student rates are available. Registration forms and more information are available at www.moffa.org or by calling (248) 262-6826.
The conference is sponsored by Littlite, a maker of gooseneck lighting and accessories, committed to the ideals of a renewable, responsible lifestyle; the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at MSU; Purity Foods Inc., a worldwide supplier of certified organic food products since 1979; and MOFFA, a non-profit promoting Michigan-produced organic food.